After 6 years of marriage, my husband's Muscular Dystrophy diagnosis and subsequent physical decline, my gastric bypass surgery, depression, and apparent infertility, this is where I find my new normal.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Where I have been

It’s been a while. What have I been doing? Here’s an update.

Saturday: I got up early so I could take the big girl cats to the vet to get their shots while picking up the little girl kittens from same said vet. I grabbed Daisy and tried to get her into her cat carrier which was sitting open on the living room floor. She refused and even hissed and snarled at me. I finally let her go in hopes of finding Maisey an easier cat to corral. All of a sudden Maisey shoots from the carrier I had just been trying to load Daisy into. No wonder she was so uncooperative. I loaded Maisey into her carrier and then got Daisy into her carrier. Amazing how much easier it is when Maisey isn’t in there mucking up the works.

Maisey cried her mournful cry of kitty sadness all the way to the vet’s office. Once we got there and got them into the exam room, they quieted down but their tails were poofy and their eyes huge. Maisey was the first one examined. She did just fine with the shots but did not care for the thermometer up the butt thank you very much. Daisy was not so easily handled. We had to take her carrier apart to get her out. I had to pet her and allow her to see me the entire time the vet examined her. She flattened her ears, tried to hug the table, and snarled the entire time. The thermometer up the butt was the least of her worries. Once they were vaccinated, examined, and weighed, we were good to go. Maisey weighs 9 pounds and Daisy weighs 12. We have been trying to get Daisy to stop eating the kitten food, but we haven’t been very good at deterring her.

I drove home with all four cats in three carriers. This time, the kittens joined Maisey in the mournful cry of kitty sadness all the way home. Once home, I opened all the carriers and the cats scattered to the four corners of the wind to lick their wounds and wounded prides. Actually, they all hid under various pieces of furniture as though shamed at the punishment of the vet’s office.

Saturday was grey and gloomy as far as weather goes, but bright and shiny in my eyes. The cats were found well and healthy which was something that had been weighing heavily on me. We also received a shipment of assorted boxes as a gift from our realtor. Originally she said there should be enough to pack a 3-bedroom house, but I do not think there are that many, though we did receive a nice shipment to get us started. This move shouldn’t make us look like lushes and booze hounds. I was raiding liquor stores for boxes for our last 2 moves and got tired of The Captain after a while. The rest of Saturday was spent at our local Laundromat washing all 8 loads of clothing and linens that had built up over the past couple of weeks. I cannot wait to use the in-unit laundry in our new condo! The only time we will need to go to a Laundromat will be if we have oversized items.

Sunday was our day to sleep in. And sleep in we did. And we napped. And we dozed. It was still grey and gloomy and was the perfect day to enjoy the warmth of the bed and the drowsy fog clinging to the skies. But we couldn’t spend all day in bed because we were on telethon telephone duty. We made it to the MOA with time to spare and spent it chatting and visiting with the MDA staff and volunteers. We were on the first phone shift and sat in the first row of the phone bank. We sat next to a woman who would not stop complaining so that was not so rosy. Our shift was four hours long and we each took half dozen calls. One of Bob’s callers pledged six million dollars, said “F you!” and hung up. One of my callers wanted to speak to Nancy. The woman next to me took a call from a man who was angry with something Jerry Lewis said and demanded an apology in writing. We all also got our share of hang up. Whatever. It was fun and we had a good time. We got home by 12:30 and were in bed by 1.

Monday dawned bright, sunny, and full of promise. Bob and I were at the MOA by 10 and in the phone bank of volunteers by noon. We met some wonderful and amazing people. Bob scored 4 free t-shirts. (He is the king of free t-shirts and can wear a new MDA shirt every day for two weeks without repeating.) We met another crabby lady and answered more weird calls. One lady wanted to speak to the doctor from the MDA clinic because she was just sure she had a neuromuscular disorder and wanted him to diagnose her. Over the phone. Another guy was mad because he turned on the station broadcasting the telethon and was surprised to see his golf tournament was not being aired. So call the volunteers on the phone bank because we can surely do something about that! We ended on a high note, earning more money in pledges this year than last. If you called in a pledge, thank you. It all goes to the most worthy of causes.

One of the MDA staff and I talked about how badly the telethon needs updating. Almost all the acts are buddies of Jerry Lewis and no one under the age of 50 really recognizes or even knows them. Or they yodel. Or they have puppets. Or they do weird fake variety show acts. We need Ryan Seacrest to host. Why not, he does everything else. We need Paris and Nicole to co-host. We need Johnny Knoxville and his buddies to do their thing. We need Ashton to punk Usher. We need Oprah! Anything. This is the most outdated successful fundraiser I have ever seen.

The other thing that is kind of annoying is how Duchene’s and ALS are the versions of MD that are almost exclusively focused on. Granted, they are 2 of the most heinous and insidious, but there are 41 other kinds and they all affect good people, families, and individuals. I know it is hard to get MD on the minds of people these days with all the other great causes out there that need funds and to get all 43 kinds “out there” would be impossible. Still, there are other kinds besides Duchene’s and ALS so lets pick one or two others to focus on once in a while, huh.

If you want to see the fun we had at the telethon, click my flickr badge over there on the right and see all 180 photos. The local hosts were Rod Simon and Rusty Gatenby from channel 5 and Cindy Redmond from channel 45. They were awesome. Oh! I almost forgot. Sunday night the staff kept telling us to expect a surprise visit from a famous guest. Except said famous guest never showed up. We later found out that Matthew McConnehy (I do NOT know how to spell his name) was in town and was going to stop by except that his grandma died suddenly and he had to leave to be with his family. We came thisclose to a brush with fame and stardom.

If you are the sort that prays, please say some words on behalf of my cousin’s big golden lab BoDean. He had a stroke last week and is doing rather poorly. He is not eating and she is anxiously waiting results from the various tests he has recently undergone. He is only 9 and is her best friend and buddy. Thanks.

Still no word on a new job. I am still interviewing. That’s all I can about that.

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About Me

Welcome. My name is Amy. I am married to a hunky guy named Bob. We live in Minneapolis with our 3(you read that right) cats and 1 crazy dog. This is my space to rant, write, whine, and work things out in my brain. Your comments are welcome as long as you are not a troll and don't leave assvice. Read on!